Jason Strange has set his sights firmly on a fifth placed finish in the World Rugby Under-20s Championship in Georgia today as they chase a third successive win in 2017 over Six Nations rivals Scotland at the Avchala Stadium (1500BST).

Wales’ eight-try thumping of Samoa in Tbilisi last Thursday ensured the 2016 Six Nations Grand Slam winners would finish in the middle tier of the global competition with fifth spot the highest position up for grabs.

Read More

And having already beaten the Scots twice this season, Strange has thrown down the gauntlet to his young team to bounce back from defeats to England and Australia earlier in the competition with the highest placed finish possible.

He said: “Finishing fifth has got to be the target for this group of players and that would be a good achievement but we are under no illusions that Scotland will be saying the same. We certainly won’t underestimate Scotland.

(Image: Huw Evans Agency)

“We’ll be playing Scotland for the third time in a couple of months. We were fortunate enough to get the result we wanted in those two games but this is a completely different tournament and there’s different conditions.”

Strange insists the focus will remain on Wales U20s rather than the opposition and he is confident they can prevail providing they continue to make small improvements.

He added: “We were obvious pleased with the result, to score eight tries against quite a physical Samoa team. There was real variety to our tries as well - a lot of set-piece tries, tries off turnovers and off just building pressure, which is pleasing.

Read More

“Something we had been working on was turning pressure into points so that was pleasing. One of the other main positives was some of the individual performances, Shane Lewis-Hughes and Will Jones were outstanding and that will be important for the next game.

“We’ll have a good look at Scotland and there will be quite a bit of footage but again in this tournament we’re just looking for that small improvement in every game.

“There will be a big focus on correcting one or two bits again and if we do that then hopefully we will get the result.

“We are going after that ability to play at a high level for 80 minutes - there’s been two or three minutes of lack of concentration, lack of physicality or poor decision making and that will cost you against the top three or four teams in the world. We just have to make sure we keep striving to achieve those standards whatever the opposition.”

Meanwhile Lewis-Hughes has called on Wales to nullify Scotland’s forward strength in Tbilisi.

The back-rower was one of the star performers in the 54-20 victory over Samoa, scoring two tries.

He said: “We’re treating every game as a final now and we have to put on a big performance because they have some real strengths, especially around their set-piece.

Read More

“We’ve played them and beat them in the Six Nations, and the recent warm-up game for this competition, so we are lucky to have some experience and knowledge of what they will bring.

“They have a good lineout, a decent scrum and heavy forwards with a powerful pack but we’ve also seen a decent back-line and they’ve improved as the tournament’s gone on. But we can’t worry about that, it’s about focussing on ourselves.”

Lewis-Hughes will also be able to take solace from the performances of the pack so far in Georgia.

Wales U20s coach Jason Strange and captain Will Jones

Against both England and Samoa, Wales were dominant at the set-piece, with their attacking scrum causing particular problems for the opposition.

“If we can take that away from them and stick to our game-plan then hopefully we’ll be alright and get the victory.

“The forward platform we have enjoyed so far has been very pleasing, especially at set-piece with the likes of Keiron Assiratti and Rhys Carre dominating, that’s pleasing for us and something we take confidence from.”